Hailed as one of the most successful live-action anime adaptations, One Piece Season 1 became Netflix’s top show in over 84 countries within just three days of streaming, amassing 18.5 million views and a wave of positive acclaim.

Earlier this month, the series, filmed in Cape Town, also won two Children’s & Family Emmy Awards: “Outstanding Original Song for a Children’s or Young Teen Program” for “My Sails are Set,” and “Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Live Program,” awarded to South African Supervising Stunt Coordinator Franz Spilhaus and Stunt Coordinator Darrell McLean.

“This is such a great achievement for the South African stunt community,” an ecstatic Franz told The Callsheet.

“We’ve worked so hard for so many years and made so many other countries look good when they come over here. So to get the recognition as a stunt coordinator in the South African stunt community is amazing. That is thoroughly deserved because we do have some of the best performers and riggers in the world.”

Franz says he hopes the Emmy win brings people back to South Africa. “We’ve actually lost quite a lot of them internationally because of the pay and things like that. So this recognition hopefully brings people back to South Africa and makes people realize how good the crews are – not just stunts, but the entire filming crew in South Africa is phenomenal. We’re definitely top draw.”

With 25 years in the industry, Franz is a co-founder of Pyranha Stunts, one of the largest and most sought-after stunt companies in South Africa. He has dedicated significant time, effort, and resources to enhancing the stunt industry and equipment in the country.

“We really, really have worked hard on One Piece, and we’ve managed to assemble an amazing team from South Africa. It’s fully South African, except for a Japanese team that handled some of the katana work for us, led by Kôji Iwamoto and his stunt double.

“Otherwise, the entire production is South African-based, and the other performers, key riggers, and fight choreographers are just out of this world. We’re very proud to have them on board as our team. We look forward to another season, should Netflix greenlight it, which we’re hoping they do.”

Season Two recently wrapped, with a release date expected later this year. Franz promises it will be “absolutely amazing.” “It makes Season One look like a Mickey Mouse show. We really went over and above. The scripts allowed us to really take off and improve on what we had done in Season One. So we have high hopes for Season Two. That is for sure.”

Franz began his journey studying Sports Science at Stellenbosch University before moving to London, where he started rigging for rock ‘n’ roll concerts. In 2000, he returned to South Africa. “Fear Factor in America had just finished and had taken Europe by storm. They all wanted to shoot Fear Factor, and South Africa was the place to do it because it was affordable and had good rigging teams.

“I was lucky enough to get into the stunt company that was doing the show. And they asked me to come key rig for them, which I did for two to three years. And then StuntSA, another stunt company that was based in Johannesburg, moved down to Cape Town. My business partner at Pyranha Stunts, Grant Halley, was a partner in StuntSA at the time, and he asked me to come on board and help him on his shows. So I started as a key rigger on his shows. And then eventually we started Pyranha Stunts together and I started coordinating. And so the ball rolled.

“I naturally tended towards the camera. And what was behind the camera for me was very interesting. So I started shooting a lot of shows myself, got a lot of opportunities in India to go and action direct there. So I spent a lot of time doing that myself as well. So it grew to this day, now I’m an action director and stunt coordinator. 

“My vision of being behind camera is still there, which is fantastic. And I enjoy being a mentor to many performers and stunt coordinators that are coming up. And like I said, the talent in South Africa is quite phenomenal. We keep breeding new ones and we find amazing talent every year. We are very, very lucky, and we need to look after them.”

Franz emphasises the importance of keeping the film industry healthy in South Africa and hopes the industry gains government support for better rebates. “At the moment, they’re not very good at all, to be honest. We don’t want to struggle; we want our industry to flourish and create jobs for everyone. So here’s hoping that the DTI comes through for us.”